Outdoor Ontario

Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: dbellilo on May 01, 2011, 04:27:01 PM

Title: nest-building egret
Post by: dbellilo on May 01, 2011, 04:27:01 PM

Hello, gentle birdfriends
This is a very happy time of year for us all, I'm sure...
Here's an egret I hung around with yesterday. He so admired my photographic attitude that he plopped on my head not once but TWICE!
All the best,
David B.
(http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9319/nbegret2.jpg) (http://img204.imageshack.us/i/nbegret2.jpg/)

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Post by: MEGHAN on May 01, 2011, 05:01:32 PM

Awesome David!!
Well done

Meghan

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Post by: dbellilo on May 01, 2011, 05:56:33 PM

A question for any of you photoshop fans...
Would you eliminate the shadows from the bird's neck? It would be a very quick job in Photoshop, that's for sure. I'd love to hear thoughts on such things. Some birdpeople, of course, are adamantly opposed to photographic tampering, whereas other bird photographers do it all the time...as for me, I'm somewhere in the middle, I think. The shadow adds nothing to the photograph, in my estimation. Perhaps it is a distraction?
I'd love to hear some thoughts...also, I'd probably up the exposure just a bit...this image (other than being cropped) is straight out of the camera...
All the best
David
p.s. Obviously this doesn't matter at all, and this isn't anything important. All we've got here really is a decent shot of a beautiful bird. But I am always interested in thoughts on people's photoshop preferences...

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Post by: Lloyd on May 01, 2011, 11:38:46 PM

Quote from: "dbellilo"

A question for any of you photoshop fans...
Would you eliminate the shadows from the bird's neck? It would be a very quick job in Photoshop, that's for sure. I'd love to hear thoughts on such things. Some birdpeople, of course, are adamantly opposed to photographic tampering, whereas other bird photographers do it all the time...as for me, I'm somewhere in the middle, I think. The shadow adds nothing to the photograph, in my estimation. Perhaps it is a distraction?
I'd love to hear some thoughts...also, I'd probably up the exposure just a bit...this image (other than being cropped) is straight out of the camera...
All the best
David
p.s. Obviously this doesn't matter at all, and this isn't anything important. All we've got here really is a decent shot of a beautiful bird. But I am always interested in thoughts on people's photoshop preferences...

Removing those fine shadow lines prior to posting would likely go unnoticed to the average layperson but I dislike seeing naturally colorful birds intensified with more color. Overdoing it can transform an otherwise beautiful shot into something quite unappealing, like an American Kestrel photo posted here some time ago which gave me the impression the bird had been eating cheesies judging by it's enhanced orange legs and body colors.

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Post by: newfoundlander61 on May 02, 2011, 07:14:34 AM

Excellent flight capture. Beautiful natural colors.

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Post by: dbellilo on May 02, 2011, 09:14:21 AM

Ha!
I feed cheesies and nothing else to the American Kestrel I keep in my bathtub. Sometimes I do let him up onto the roof and take shots of him in flight (I call him Cheezo) but in tender moments I will rub his feathers, to tell you the truth. After all, I am a sensitive man.
Thanks for the comments, folks...
David

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Post by: denis on May 02, 2011, 09:16:31 AM

great shot david.
the shadows are not distracting at all.you may want to brighten the bird a bit using curves,if you like.
i,ve found that it is better to underexpose a white bird,and adjust later,than risk the chance of blowing the whites,which cant be recovered.

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Post by: dbellilo on May 02, 2011, 09:33:54 AM

Denis, I agree completely RE underexposing a white bird...
All the best,
David